Mourinho suggests Mbappe or Vinicius should win Ballon d'Or despite lack of trophies

Jose Mourinho has hailed the "brutal" quality of Real Madrid duo Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior and suggested one of the pair should win the Ballon d'Or this year.

Madrid have started the new LaLiga campaign with back-to-back victories, beating Espanyol 2-1 and Real Sociedad 4-1, ahead of hosting newly promoted Malaga on Sunday.

Mbappe scored a hat-trick last time out against La Real, with Vinicius getting Los Blancos' other goal.

And if Madrid are to be successful in his second stint at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Mourinho knows the partnership between Mbappe and Vinicius will be key.

"The key point is the quality, we're talking about super quality," Mourinho said at Saturday's pre-match press conference. 

"Then the second point – secondary but still important – is the empathy between two people. A lot of empathy, friendship, collaboration. 

"When you combine that with brutal quality, we have everything we need to get better. 

"But the dynamic isn't two plus nine. It's eleven. They'll perform better all the time, and I couldn't be happier with what they're doing."

Despite Madrid not winning any of the three major trophies – LaLiga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey – available to them last season, both Mbappe and Vinicius are considered contenders for the Ballon d'Or.

Mbappe registered 48 goal involvements in all competitions for Madrid last season (42 goals, six assists), while Vinicius contributed to 32 (22 goals, 10 assists). 

Mbappe also became the World Cup's all-time leading scorer as France finished fourth at this summer's tournament in North America, and Mourinho believes that achievement should count for more than winning trophies at club level. 

When asked about the Ballon d'Or race, Mourinho said: "There are 12 or so players, and we have three or four of them.

"You shouldn't give a Ballon d'Or because you won a World Cup or Champions League. If you want to reward that, give it to Luis Enrique or Luis de la Fuente. 

"Another thing is the best player in the world – it doesn't have to be a PSG player or a Spain player.

"There are two or three [contenders] and we know who they are and where they are. We know who individually made history this summer."

Malaga have one point on the board following two games back in LaLiga, drawing 1-1 with fellow promoted side Deportivo de A Coruna last time out, following an opening defeat to Atletico Madrid.

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Real Madrid – Kylian Mbappe

Last time out against La Real, Mbappe scored his sixth hat-trick for Madrid in all competitions. 

That is twice as many as any other LaLiga player has managed since he arrived in Spain at the start of the 2024-25 season (Raphinha and Alexander Sorloth, three each).

Malaga – Chupe 

Chupe, who scored Malaga's only goal in LaLiga so far this season, has scored 20 goals in 2026, the most by any player in the top two tiers of Europe's big-five leagues.

MATCH PREDICTION – REAL MADRID WIN 

Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last 11 LaLiga matches against Malaga (W9 D2) since a 3-2 defeat in December 2012, which is their only loss against them in the competition's history.

Los Blancos are also unbeaten in their 17 home LaLiga matches against Malaga (W14 D3). They have only played more home games in the competition without losing against Las Palmas (36), Elche (25), CD Malaga (20) and Real Murcia (18).

Madrid have the chance to win their first three league games of a season for the 24th time in their history, but this would be the first time they have done so consecutively in the last 60 years, having also won their first three games in 2025-26.

And the Opta supercomputer is firmly behind them.

Mourinho has won six of his eight games against Malaga in all competitions (D1 L1), including his joint-biggest win in the competition, a 7-0 victory in March 2011 (alongside an 8-1 win against Almeria in May 2011).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Real Madrid – 79.3%

Malaga – 7.4%

Draw – 13.3%